Being Screwed Up is a Good Thing
by The Official Girl Wonder
Summary: Wally helps Dick on the anniversary of his parents' deaths with some...interesting logic.


**A/N: I was, once again, pointlessly daydreaming when I came up with this. I'm still updating The Boy Wonderful World of Christmas, but I figured that if I let this wait, I would forget.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice because we still don't have new episodes!**

Dick Grayson sat alone in fetal position near the zeta tubes in Mount Justice. He wanted privacy, so he should have walked a little further from the entrance, but his legs had given out on him. Silent tears rolled down his cheeks.

Today was the day he dreaded most. Five years ago on this day, an eight year old Richard Grayson witnessed his parents fall from a trapeze bar thirty feet in the air. Five years ago on this day, he heard the sickening thud and crunch as their bodies hit the dirt floor. Five years ago on this day, John and Mary Grayson were murdered. Five years ago on this day, Dick Grayson became an orphan and lost his innocence.

Now, a thirteen-year old Richard Grayson choked on his tears until a loud sob escaped his throat.

"Did you guys hear that?" Artemis asked the rest of her team, minus Robin.

"No," M'gann answered, "I didn't hear anything after the computer announced Robin's arrival. Say, shouldn't he have run into us by now?"

"I thought Batman was giving Rob a day off," Wally recalled, "So, why is he here?"

"I heard it too, Artemis," Superboy stated, ignoring Wally's recollection.

"What did you two hear?" Kaldur asked, wondering if he should be worried for the team's safety.

"Well, I'm not exactly sure what it was," Artemis explained, "but I heard something."

"Ooh, maybe you're starting to hear voices, Arty. After all, that would explain-"

"I heard it very clearly," Superboy interrupted before Artemis and Wally could start giving the rest of them a headache, "It was a sob. Someone's crying."

"But," M'gann said, confused, "The only other person in here is Robin."

Without another word the team sped off to find their little bird.

The sobs only grew in number and volume until the team could distinctly pinpoint the source of the crying voice. Robin's voice.

They found him near the zeta tubes. His hands were clutching his knees and he didn't acknowledge their presence.

"Robin…" Kaldur started tentatively. He had never seen the boy like this. "What is the matter?"

At this, Robin snapped his head up, noticing them for the first time. He wore his civilian attire and his usual dark sunglasses. The team paid more attention to his countenance, though. It conveyed sadness, distress, fear, and a sense of being completely lost.

Everyone's eyes grew wide. Then, Wally realized what must have been happening.

"Today's the day, isn't it?"

Robin only nodded, and the rest of the team was at a loss.

"Wait, what's today, and why is it making Robin cry?" Superboy asked.

Robin sniffed loudly, but didn't answer, so Wally spoke for him. "It's just a really bad day, you guys. He gets like this every year."

"But why?" Artemis inquired, frustrated that she didn't know how to help her friend, "What's so important about this particular day?"

The team knew that the situation was bad because instead of teasingly withholding the information from Artemis, Wally solemnly said, "Something really terrible happened to him on this day a few years ago. He hasn't been the same since."

"Wally," Kaldur started, trying to take some responsibility, "You must tell us why Robin is so upset so that we can help him."

"No," All heads turned to Robin, whose scratchy, sorrow-laden voice echoed through the room.

"N-no...You can't (hiccup) can't t-tell them."

"I won't," Wally assured his friend, "Don't worry."

He then turned back to his other teammates. "I'm sorry, you guys, but this could jeopardize his secret identity. I'll talk to him, and I'll call you if I need help, okay?"

Hesitantly, the rest of the team departed one by one, leaving Wally to deal with his sobbing friend. He sat down next to Robin and gently removed his sunglasses, revealing two exceptionally bright, but grief-filled blue eyes.

"Robin…Dicky, I'm sorry."

No response

"Do you want to be alone?"

No response

"Come on, Dick, say something."

After another round of silence, Wally sighed and started walking away, only to be stopped by a tiny voice.

"Why?" It sounded more like a request than an actual question. It was a request not to be left alone again.

"Why what?" Wally asked, turning back to the boy across the room from him.

Then, unexpectedly, Dick face contorted into a cynical smirk - a smirk that could only be achieved by one who's lived through some of the world's worst evil - a smirk that could only be learned somewhere like Gotham City.

"Why is my life the way it is?" Dick said, looking up at Wally as if he'd just asked, "Why does two plus two equal four?"

Wally sighed. Dick became so cryptic when he was upset. "You're going to have to elaborate."

"Why did they have to die, Wally? Why did they have to leave me alone?" Dick was now choking on his words, but he refused to start sobbing again.

Wally felt like a knife had gone through his stomach. Now more than ever, Dick seemed like his little brother. Scratch that. Dick _was_ his little brother. In the same way, Wally was Dick's older brother, and at times like this, older brothers have to tell their little siblings the truth, whether they want to hear it or not.

Wally took a deep breath, knowing that Dick might start to hate him for what would come out of his mouth.

"Dick, everything happens for a reason…Everything in our lives has to happen for us to become better people." He shifted from foot to foot, unused to being the voice of reason. "One of the things that had to happen in your life was that your parents had to die."

Dick now glared intensely at the older boy, which Wally expected but still felt uncomfortable with.

"Now, I know," he continued, quickly trying to ease the tension, "you must think it's unfair of me to say that, but…your life has changed both for better and for worse."

Dick suddenly stood, rage in his usually joyful and childish eyes. "You don't understand! You'll never understand! That's what everyone's told me! They say, 'Oh, look, Dick. It's okay that you're an orphan because now you live in a big fancy mansion, you go to a prestigious school, and you're on every magazine cover in Gotham,' or, 'Hey, don't be sad that you've lost your only family because you're Robin, the Boy Wonder, and that must be so much fun!' They don't get it! They don't know what it's like to suffer like I've had to! You don't know either! You just-"

"Robin!" Wally shouted, not wanting Dick to torture himself any longer, "I do get it! Do you really think you're the only one?"

Dick's expression went from enraged to guilty in an instant, but Wally couldn't stop there. He had to make his little brother understand.

"When you lost your parents, you felt like you'd lost the world, right? Well, remember, Roy lost both of his parents too, right?" Dick nodded slowly. "Well, yeah, he's really messed up in his own ways, but he turned out okay, and so will you.

"When they threw you into juvie, you felt abandoned, right? Like you didn't even deserve a family? How do you think I felt when I started living with Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris? Yes, they're my family and I love them and they're totally awesome, but I still had trouble coming to terms with the fact that my own parents didn't want me around. _I_ felt abandoned." Wally pushed away his childhood memories as soon as he finished that sentence. Now wasn't the time to dwell in the past.

"When you started going to school for the first time, I bet you felt isolated and alone because you were still more used to speaking Romanian than English and because you grew up in a circus and now had to go to school with all of those spoiled rich kids." More nodding. "How do you think Megan feels? Her home is on Mars. She's an entire world away from everything she's ever known, but she still makes the best out of her new life here. The same goes for Conner. He's never even had a family. He's still adjusting to life period, let alone life as a kid superhero, but he still pulls through for us when we need him. Kaldur, too. He must feel completely foreign on dry land, but he still manages to be the leader we all look up to.

"And I know I give Artemis a rough time, but I'm sure she has something in her background that's made her so, well…independent."

"What's your point, Wally?" Dick asked, his throat growing dryer by the moment.

"My point is that you're not the only one – not even the only one in this building – whose childhood ranks among the world's most screwed up…That being said, it's a good thing we're all so screwed up."

At this Dick looked at Wally as if he'd just grown another head.

"It's a good thing because in our line of work, if our heads weren't _screwed_, we wouldn't be able to keep them on! Get it?" Wally then started laughing maniacally.

Dick just stared at his older brother. He stared, and stared, and…began laughing as well.


End file.
